st.alfonzo
Broadcaster
Posts: 662
Registered: 01-10 |
Magnifique! We are actually still hankering for a few more Mcgee maps, truth be known. I'll have a look shortly and get back to you after I've assembled a critique.
EDIT: Well then. I had a blast through the map just to get a quick first impression, and on the whole I think it's a bit hit and miss, unfortunately, although clearly more Mcgee in nature than either Romero or Petersen.
I think the more authentic points lie in the gameplay, which of course is an important facet to cover. There are multiple sudden reveals of monsters intermitting many scatterings of lone beasties, and to me that feels well and good... but some of the choices of design, geometry, progression and texturing in particular are pretty iffy, I think.
Geometrically speaking, Mcgee almost never diverged from orthogonal shapes when outlining "main rooms." The only exception seems to be in map22, where a couple of areas had rogue angles nipping at the corners. Corridors and connecting areas on the other hand do see a bit of jelly sometimes (map04's light switch corridor; map02's watery underhalls). here, the starting room as well as a few other areas seem to diverge from this rule pretty significantly, and for me it's the biggest indication that this was not a map forged by Mcgee. Some of the texture selections are a bit odd as well (although I'm not particularly attentive when it comes to these matters and actually had to pester someone to point me in the right direction when outfitting my map04...!). Certainly it's too diverse and complex in some places, visually, and some of the textures are not only misused* (bigdoor4 as a semi-support texture; step2 flanking doors) but difficult to imagine even being placed in a mcgee map outright -- typically he elects to stick to a tighter selection of textures, and using mostly those that cope with misalignments better to disguise the fact that he's a lazy American.
There are a few other issues that come to mind, such as the unpegged door tracks and cramped feel, but if these problems were resolved first then I think it'd be a fair bit easier to pinpoint those intricacies and get it closer to the mark. Not a bad effort then, on the whole.
The name is a hoot, by the way. Some bonus points for that!
*The support3 as a step texture is as good observation though.
Last edited by st.alfonzo on 02-06-13 at 12:33
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01-30-13 03:04 
